Eighteenth-Century White Slaves: Fugitive Notices; Volume I, Pennsylvania, 1729-1760 (Documentary Reference Collections) [Hardcover]

Daniel Meaders (Compiler)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 1993 | ISBN-10: 031327987X | ISBN-13: 978-0313279874

While historians of Southern slavery have increasingly come to have access to slave sources, there has been a dearth of easily accessible documents on indentured white servants of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This volume of advertisements for runaway indentured servants helps to address that need. The first of four volumes providing a full collection of these advertisements, this volume covers Pennsylvania from 1729 to 1760, while the following volumes will cover Pennsylvania from 1761 to 1820, South Carolina, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, and Massachusetts. This collection will provide a valuable source of information about unfree white classes in early America, saving hours of research time. Two appendices, one listing planters by name and one listing runaways by name, provide access to the people mentioned in the advertisements. Appendix tables also provide useful statistics about the runaways.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

DANIEL MEADERS is Assistant Professor of History at William Paterson College of New Jersey.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (December 30, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031327987X
• ISBN-13: 978-0313279874
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,475,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Runaway Servant Advertisements, June 1, 2000

By 

Brian O'Malley (Atlantic Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eighteenth-Century White Slaves: Fugitive Notices; Volume I, Pennsylvania, 1729-1760 (Documentary Reference Collections) (Hardcover)

This work is a compilation of newspaper advertisements for runaway servants. A brief introductory essay offers a good summation of general patterns. The masters offered thorough descriptions of the servants they wanted captured and returned. These detailed descriptions also give us a good look at these individuals.

Those interested in Irish history would find this interesting. While a number of ethnic groups are mentioned, a great many of the servants advertised in 18th-century Philadelphia were Gaelic-speaking Irish just beginning to learn English. This should also be interesting for students of labor history. The skills and experience of the servants are listed, as are a number of injuries, most presumably work-related.